A Scoutmaster's Blog

The Boy Scouts of America has a new merit badge. Chess anyone? That is correct. You may now earn the Chess Merit Badge as of Saturday, September 10. According to the B.S.A. Supply Line, “The USCF (United States Chess Federation) provided the primary contributing writers for the Merit Badge pamphlet. They will be helping to promote the badge through communications with the Chess delegate teams (similar to BSA’s National Committees and Boards) and e-mail blasts, plus website and “tournament news” announcements.”

When I first heard about this new merit badge, I was a little skeptical about what it could include for requirements. Maybe some history of the game. A little about strategies. And of course, how to play a game of chess. Now that the merit badge requirements have been posted (see http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Chess ) I have come to the conclusion that this could be a great merit badge for those Boy Scouts who enjoy playing the game, and may be a good tool to introduce new boys to the game.

I think any Boy Scout who earns this merit badge will have to spend some time learning more about chess. A Scout will not only have to know how to play but will also need to know history, terminology, strategies, and how to score. I would have to do some studying to earn this badge myself, and I have played the game since I was a kid. I have thought about becoming a councilor, but I would have to get a merit badge book and read it before working with any Scouts.

Take a look at the requirements at the link posted earlier in the post, and let me know what you think of the Chess Merit badge.

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The Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 held their summer court of honor on Monday, June 27th. The recognition ceremony began at 7:00 pm at the Melrose City Hall. All ten members of the troop attended along with many of their family members.

The award presentations began with the Year Pins which are given to Boy Scouts on their yearly anniversary of joining the Scouting program. Noah received his One Year pin. A Five Year pin was presented to Thomas. Dakota received a Seven Year pin. Very few young men stay in Scouting long enough to receive a seven year pin.

Three Boy Scouts received the Tenderfoot rank, which is the first of the six ranks a Scouts may earn, with the rank of Eagle Scout being the highest. Alex, William, and Noah received the Tenderfoot rank with their parents standing proudly by their side.

Troop 68 surprised committee member Chris Massmann with a Community Service Award. Chris began her service to Scouting when her oldest son, Dakota, joined the Melrose Cub Scout Pack. She joined the pack committee and became the pack treasurer. When Dakota graduated into the Boy Scout troop, Chris moved with him and became a member of the troop committee and its treasurer. She has been with the local Scouting program for about ten years. Chris plans to retire from the troop committee in August when her son leaves the troop to attend college.

Congratulations to all the award recipients!

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The Troop 68 committee met tonight. The troop’s two newest Boy Scouts attended for their Tenderfoot board of reviews. They were very excited. In fact, they arrived before the committee did.

The committee holds board of reviews at the beginning of their meeting. I, as the scoutmaster, present each Boy Scout to the board and then leave the room. The committee conducts the review and then asks the boy to leave the room for a few minutes so they can discuss his progress. I go back with him when they call him back into the room for their decision and congratulations.

Both boys did very well during their board of review. After the boys left, the committee told me that both Scouts were well prepared. They also commented on the differences between the boys. One was very talkative and maintained good eye contact, while the other was more shy and quiet. They were impressed with each Scout.

Both boys were beaming as they left the meeting as the troop’s newest Tenderfoot Scouts. They are anxious to work on their Second Class Rank. These boys have enough enthusiasm to easily attain the First Class Rank by the end of the year.

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I was a Boy Scout for about three and one half years. While I had fun as a Scout, and even learned a few things, I did not get very far in the advancement program. Advancement was not pushed much in my troop. If we earned any we pretty much did it on our own, or at camp. Thus, I can say for the rest of my life that I am a Second Class Scout.

How did you do when you were a Boy Scout? Did you barely finish Tenderfoot, or did you go all the way to Eagle Scout. Take this little survey and let’s see how the readers of this blog measure up.

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Here is something you do not see everyday, or even more then once in a lifetime. It is something special when four brothers in one family each receive Boy Scouting’s highest award, the rank of Eagle Scout. When the four brothers are quadruplets, well, that adds a whole new meaning to special.

Check out the story about the Goodspeed brothers at the Bryan On Scouting blog, found at http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2011/03/10/quadruplets/ Congratulations to the four new Eagle Scouts.

Are there any quintuplets out there who can do better? Hmmm? Anyone?

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When I was a Boy Scout in the 1970′s there was no such thing as a home video recorder, so there was not a Cinematography Merit Badge. There was the Photography Merit Badge, however. I like taking pictures so I thought I would try earning that badge. I grabbed my Kodak Instamatic camera that used 126 film, a merit badge book, and began taking pictures.

One of the requirements for the merit badge was to tell a story with photographs. I decided to do a story of the missing cookie mystery. The members of my troop would be the “actors” of my story. Even my scoutmaster got in on the action. He held sheets of paper with my opening and closing titles. I discovered, after the film was developed, that the writing on the paper was not dark enough and it was difficult to read the titles.

The plot of the story was simple. The troop’s snack, a batch of cookies, had disappeared. It was up to the troop members to find them. They began searching the building in which we had our troop meetings. Pictures were taken of my fellow Scouts looking in various nooks and crannies. They finally catch the cookie thieves in a corner of the balcony, eating the evidence.

Unfortunately, I never finished the merit badge. I do not know why not. Maybe I lost interest, or we lost our counselor. All I know is that I still have the photographs of my picture story. Here are the pictures for you to view, in the order they were meant to be used. The photos are thumbnailed. Click on any for a larger view.

100 Days of Scouting: Day #10.

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